This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
After sales service contribute substantially to the profit margins of sales companies. With the advent of IT and global competitiveness, prompt and efficient after sales support has received enormous amount of impetus. Companies are constantly trying to lure prospective customers and maintain their existing pool of customers through the incentive of cheap, lucrative and efficient after sales support.
Any post-sales customer will prefer, service with minimum hassle. May it be a device replacement or repairing, the end customer will prefer to avoid technicalities of the service that he/she requires. Rather than having to deal with service personnel over the phone, it would be convenient if the customer has an automatic system which will raise his/her query, conveying all the details to the right and reliable contractor. Moreover, in this fast world, everyone wants their work to be done by a click or a press of a key. People are ready to pay more, but expect quality services. Especially when the issue is of immediate attention, they want the contractors to service them based on their urgent needs.
There have been attempts in the prior art to overcome the aforementioned problems and provide a convenient way to service/repair/replace their electrical devices. Particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,560 discloses a device and method for providing HVAC service assistance. This patent states that there can be a device in the HVAC network which assists users in troubleshooting the HVAC devices by audio and/or visual display. The patent states that the stated device may give a call for service to contractor if the user depresses an assistance button by any communication network like telephone or computer network. The contractor information can be loaded into the device at the time of service or when buying the device. However, the thermostat directly communicates with the contractor to request a servicing call, and does not have the facility to store the Customer's contact address and contact number, the configuration of customer's HVAC network, the severity of the service request, e.g. Trivial or Urgent, and the type of request, e.g. Servicing, Repairing, Regular check, new device installation or Device replacement and the like.